


Burnt Out

by sykiqMalady



Category: Guilty Gear
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-03
Updated: 2020-04-03
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:01:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23452903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sykiqMalady/pseuds/sykiqMalady
Summary: Raven finds something on the desk of a sleeping Asuka, something he wasn't meant to see.
Kudos: 7





	Burnt Out

**Author's Note:**

> Set sometime between Sign and Rev? Some spoilers?

The late evening sun dips under the horizon as the zeal lamps inside the old research facility grow brighter. A brisk pair of footsteps echo down the empty hallway, but slow to a halt in front of one of the lamps. Its light is fading out, the magical liquid inside hardening into cold. Raven watches the orange glow wane and makes a quick mental note to replace it after getting Asuka his usual evening coffee.

It's been quite some time since he's had to change a light bulb, he muses to himself, or rather, a zeal pod as they were in this century. They lasted for a quite long time without needing to be switched out, and it was certainly rare to have one flicker out so suddenly. He continues deeper into the facility with steaming coffee pot and papers in hand.

++++

Turning a corner, Raven slows down to approach a familiar metal door. He calls for His Holiness inside, pushing open the door with an elbow.

"And I've brought the observation report from yesterday, along with your coffee."

Raven bows slightly, waiting for Asuka's most sincere thanks for the coffee and hasty request to just put the papers somewhere on the table... and was met with silence. He dares to steal a quick glance up at That Man. He stands, blinking dumbly, when he sees the chair empty. In fact, while the large table in the center of the room is piled high with open books and blinking machinery, Asuka himself was no where to be seen. Hesitantly, he sets down the file of papers and coffee pot on what is the most stable looking stack of books on the desk.

'The equipment's still running, so he must have only stepped out for a little while. I suppose he'll be back soon.'

He takes one more glance around the room and was turning to leave, when he sees something poking out from underneath the table. When the something moves, Raven quietly summons several needles and takes a wide side step around to get ready to impale whatever had the audacity to sneak inside his dear master's laborator-

It was his master, fast asleep in a pile of his own fluffy white robes. Raven internally grimaces for the grave mistake he'd been close to making and waves the needles away. With a sigh, he reaches out to rouse Asuka from the cold concrete floor, but stops with another wince when he sees the dark circles under his resting eye. The feathers on his other eye flutters delicately, in contrast to his low, steady breathing.

'He needs this break,' Raven convinces himself, standing up without a word, 'no matter how brief and... uncomfortable, it may be.'

He now stares at the precarious book-paper-coffee pot tower and notices how close it is to the edge of the table: a gentle summer's breeze away from collapsing onto the peacefully oblivious Asuka. He'd always been sure to keep the rest of the research facility's rooms neatly organized, yet he chastises himself for leaving one of Asuka's most oft used labs in such a dangerous state of disarray. Although, it had certainly not been easy to clean when his master was actively trying to use everything he was putting away. Asuka would claim to do the cleaning up himself once his work was done (his work was never done), and that besides, he'd prefer having all the equipment in this room left right where it was for ease of use. Raven respected his every wish, but this mess was currently a threat to Asuka's nap and this, he could not ignore.

He would take this chance to tidy up a bit. Just a bit. And quietly, of course, without disturbing the sleep deprived scientist passed out on the floor.

++++

'These graphs belong in this file, paper clips, pens... Well, since this drawer is full and this drawer is... also full, I'll just leave the most recent report... here. Ah, another mug. Great, I'll take that back with the others. This report isn't finished, and I'm not sure which project it's referring to so where should it...'

Raven stops to straighten out the stack of pages on the now significantly roomier table. He reads over the words in front of him for the third time.

[In Standard Backyard and Cube conditions: estimate success rate 57.4%, 42.8% respectively. Percent margin of error +/-5.8 (simulations far too unreliable, re-calibration required) . Still cannot confidently replicate in conditions: Control, Earth Standard. Deemed failure until further samples can be obtained. Check trial T-R047 for results in 3 weeks.]

Trial T-R047. The 47th trial. Results in 3 weeks.  
He checks the calendar. Those results are due 3 weeks from... today.

This was an on-going experiment, a had been on-going experiment for months, part of a series of trials spanning 5 years? 7 years? More? He didn't have a clue. Raven was just now learning of the existence of one "trial T-R047". 

There must be something wrong in the report, there was no way for Raven to have missed hearing about such a large scale operation as this. But he could not believe Asuka making any such careless mistake. He was not a careless. Besides, it was Raven himself who double checked all of Asuka's work. He was responsible for helping with all the experiments in the facility, and he was always there to assist Asuka on anything pertaining to the Valentines, gear cells, The Universal Will, his master's own anti-aging procedures...

Wait, what exactly were these 'T-R' series of experiments trying to achieve again? Raven's hands betray his racing mind as they numbly page back to the front cover of the report with ageless accuracy.

[Testing corruption rates and annihilation of information via overriding Backyard commands.]  
[Assess potential as a sub phenomenon from using Adam and Eve. Confirm total erasure of all matter under direct association of any isolated, identifiable ID in a controlled method.]

He was aware of Adam and Eve, the Seeds. That was, of course, related to the new Valentine they were working on, which he'd checked up on just yesterday. But in the many, many years of serving under Asuka, Raven had never heard about any plans on annihilation or erasure. There were certainly similar phenomena, of organic beings vaporizing under the sheer pressure of the Backyard's information: what had happened to the city of Babylon and the Cradle. But what this project was trying to achieve was on another level of 'vaporizing'. It did not mean to merely return matter to its most primitive form or to uphold sacred physical laws. It meant to remove matter from both sides of the equation completely, as if nothing had ever existed to begin with. Further, it intended to be too precise. A single ID, a single person.

He doesn't need to, not anymore, but he takes a deep breath anyway. He tries to put down the now slightly crumpled papers, but finds himself facing a dozen of his own needles. They float frozen in the air, their sharp, tantalizing points spiraling around him.

His conscious mind wills them away, but they linger like doubts, gnawing away inside. 

There must be a reason, surely, for this secrecy.  
The needles aim for his vitals.

Was he not worthy enough to know about the plans, the very plans Asuka had for himself? His potential future?  
They pull back, eager to pounce.

He was an unnecessary burden on top of everything Asuka was dealing with already. He was forcing Asuka to labor failure after failure after failure, to find a cure for someone who couldn't even save himself, for this ungrateful wretch.

And as the needles pierce his skin, they disappear into his body, bloodless, painless.

Oh.  
But he was grateful. He could not thank Asuka enough.

Pitying himself, being so arrogant to assume the worst, he'd done enough of that in the past, those times so long ago before he met his savior. And it had been his savior who gave him purpose, a reason to serve, to live, again. And again. And again he would do so now. 

There was no need to question to his choices. He trusted in his judgement, and if Asuka believed the time wasn't right, he could wait. What his master needed was unconditional. Raven would not allow this discovery to dilute his conviction.

++++

He smooths out the stack of papers, clips them together, and tucks them in a bright, blue folder. The room, finally organized, stretches out to its full height, appearing much larger than before. Asuka, still under the table, seems that much smaller. He remains undisturbed as Raven carefully carries out a tray full of various beakers and mugs from the lab room.

The glass and ceramic clink against each other in rhythm with Raven's footsteps. They pause in front of the single, blacked out lamp. He picks up the pace.

**Author's Note:**

> In hindsight, the T-R in T-R047 should totally stand for project Terminate Raven.


End file.
